Thursday, June 02, 2005

I've been a member of the British Medical Association (BMA) ever since I was a medical student. I'd probably be staggered if I worked out the membership fees I've paid over the years. Membership gives me the dubious privilege of receiving the British Medical Journal every week. It's a respected journal, but not exactly full of ripping yarns! I suppose the BMA has represented my interests over my career, although sometimes I'm a bit sceptical about how well it's done so.

As organisations go, the BMA is quite well known: to members of the general public as well as to doctors. I wonder how many of us, however, have heard of the BTA---the British Toilet Association? Well it exists, and it even has a website. Like all respected organisations it has objectives, and even publications. As far as I can see, however, The British Toilet Journal does not (yet) exist.

My curiosity is so stimulated that I'm tempted to gatecrash the BTA's annual summer meeting in picturesque Stratford upon Avon. I think I'll give the World Toilet Summit a miss, though: it's in Belfast incidentally, not Flushing Meadows as you might have expected!